By Euronews with AP
Published on •Updated
Russian drones struck the Black Sea port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, killing at least one person, Ukrainian officials have said.
The attacks against Odesa sparked fires in several apartment blocks, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.
Flames engulfed a four-storey residential building in the city, which partly collapsed and injured three emergency workers.
A separate blaze spread across the upper section of a 23-storey high-rise, leading to the evacuation of 600 residents.
In total, one person was killed and 14 others were wounded in the overnight strikes against the port city, according to Odesa’s regional prosecutor’s office.
At least eight drones hit civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv, injuring two children and two others, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said. A further four people were wounded in a second Russian strike on Friday.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 80 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, with Ukrainian air defences intercepting or jamming 70 of them.
More pressure on Russia
A Russian missile strike on a nine-storey Kyiv apartment building earlier this week was a sign that more pressure must be applied on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv early Tuesday, the deadliest assault on the capital this year, killed 28 people across the city and wounded 142 others, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said.
“This attack is a reminder to the world that Russia rejects a ceasefire and chooses killing,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, and thanked Ukraine’s partners who he said are ready to pressure Russia to “feel the real cost of the war”.
As Russia proceeds with a summer offensive across the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, US-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected an offer from US President Donald Trump for an immediate 30-day ceasefire, making it conditional on a halt to Ukraine’s mobilisation effort and a freeze on Western arms supplies.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the date for the next round of peace talks is expected to be set next week.
Ukrainian officials have not recently spoken about resuming talks with Russia, last held when delegations met in Istanbul on 2 June, though Ukraine continues to offer a ceasefire and support US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
The two rounds of brief talks yielded only agreements on the exchange of prisoners and wounded soldiers.
